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HUGHESVILLE - A borough native who fought in the war against drugs has made the ultimate sacrifice.

Chad Michael, 30, a 1997 Hughesville High School graduate and a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent assigned to the Miami, Fla., bureau, was killed Monday in an operation to stop opium production and distribution in western Afghanistan, according to his family members and the DEA.

Michael's mother, Debra Hartz, and his stepfather, Dr. Leo Hartz of Dallas, Pa., were reached Tuesday morning.

"He was full of life and had a lot of friends," Dr. Hartz said. "He worked particularly hard to try to make a difference and keep drugs off the streets. He threw himself into his work."

Prior to working for the DEA, Michael was attached to the Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff's Department near Tampa as a deputy sheriff. He was single and received a bachelor's degree in criminology from St. Leo University in St. Leo, Fla.

His father, Jeff Michael, is deceased.

"He brought a smile to a lot of faces," Hughesville High School Principal Ron Lorson said Tuesday.

Lorson said Michael was involved in athletics and played football and basketball. He was enrolled in the district from kindergarten until he graduated.

This is the second Hughesville graduate to die in the Afghan and Iraq war zones, Lorson noted.

National Guard Master Sgt. Sean M. Thomas, 33, of Hughesville, the first county soldier to die in Iraq, was killed March 27, 2007, in a rocket attack in Baghdad's Green Zone.

"Today, our condolences are sent out to his family and friends from all of us at the East Lycoming School District," Superintendent Dr. Susan L. Bigger said of Michael.

"The incident occurred during the early morning hours, when these heroic individuals were returning from a completed, joint counternarcotics mission," said DEA Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart.

"We are all saddened by this tragic event," Leonhart said. "DEA is an extremely tight family, and the death of these three brave agents is a devastating loss for us. No expressions of grief can adequately convey the depth of the collective sorrow that we feel for their loved ones.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family members of our fallen heroes. We owe them a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid, and we will forever carry their memories in our hearts."